Best stolen base percentages
Posted by Andy on August 7, 2007
If I ask you what the record is for most stolen bases in a season without getting caught (since 1957), a bunch of you will probably shout out "Kevin McReynolds, 1988", and you'd be right. McReynolds was not a particularly fast base runner (he topped double digits in steals only 3 times), but by all accounts he was a very skilled base runner.
Here are the top seasons since 1957 with no caught stealings:
Cnt Player **SB** CS Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP BA OBP SLG OPS Positions +----+-----------------+-------+--+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 Kevin McReynolds 21 0 1988 28 NYM NL 147 600 552 82 159 30 2 27 99 38 3 56 4 1 5 6 .288 .336 .496 .832 *7/8 2 Paul Molitor 20 0 1994 37 TOR AL 115 515 454 86 155 30 4 14 75 55 4 48 1 0 5 13 .341 .410 .518 .928 *D/3 3 Gary Thurman 16 0 1989 24 KCR AL 72 105 87 24 17 2 1 0 5 15 0 26 0 2 1 0 .195 .311 .241 .552 897 4 Jimmy Sexton 16 0 1982 30 OAK AL 69 154 139 19 34 4 0 2 14 9 0 24 1 2 3 0 .245 .289 .317 .606 *6/5 5 Davey Lopes 15 0 1984 39 TOT ML 88 290 247 37 63 12 1 9 36 37 1 41 1 2 3 8 .255 .351 .421 .772 94/8D75
I don't know a thing about Jimmy Sexton (feel free to tell me about him in the comments), and we've already discussed McReynolds. Certainly the other guys on this list were all great base-stealers. Although, Gary Thurman's problem was that he couldn't steal first base, and otherwise got on base at a rate of just .297 in his career.
If we relax the CS criterion to allow one caught stealing, here are the leaders since 1957:
Cnt Player **SB** CS Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP BA OBP SLG OPS Positions +----+-----------------+-------+--+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 Carlos Beltran 31 1 2001 24 KCR AL 155 680 617 106 189 32 12 24 101 52 2 120 5 1 5 7 .306 .362 .514 .876 *8/D 2 Brady Anderson 31 1 1994 30 BAL AL 111 525 453 78 119 25 5 12 48 57 3 75 10 3 2 7 .263 .356 .419 .775 *78/9 3 Chris Duffy 26 1 2006 26 PIT NL 84 348 314 46 80 14 3 2 18 19 1 71 10 4 1 1 .255 .317 .338 .655 *8 4 Ken Griffey 23 1 1980 30 CIN NL 146 615 544 89 160 28 10 13 85 62 4 77 1 3 5 4 .294 .364 .454 .818 *9/8 5 Jason Bay 21 1 2005 26 PIT NL 162 707 599 110 183 44 6 32 101 95 9 142 6 0 7 12 .306 .402 .559 .961 *78 6 Jason Bartlett 20 1 2007 27 MIN AL 98 387 350 48 91 15 1 3 27 31 3 50 5 0 1 4 .260 .328 .334 .662 *6 7 Stan Javier 20 1 1988 24 OAK AL 125 440 397 49 102 13 3 2 35 32 1 63 2 6 3 13 .257 .313 .320 .633 *789/3
Note, of course, that's Ken Griffey Sr., not Jr. But it is Stan Javier, not his father Julian. Check out Jason Bartlett's active streak at 20. He got caught stealing July 3 by Jorge Posada.
Once again, if we relax the criterion to allow for 2 CS's, here are the leaders:
Cnt Player **SB** CS Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP BA OBP SLG OPS Positions +----+-----------------+-------+--+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 Ichiro Suzuki 45 2 2006 32 SEA AL 161 752 695 110 224 20 9 9 49 49 16 71 5 1 2 2 .322 .370 .416 .786 *98/D 2 Doug Glanville 34 2 1999 28 PHI NL 150 692 628 101 204 38 6 11 73 48 1 82 6 5 5 9 .325 .376 .457 .833 *8 3 Amos Otis 33 2 1970 23 KCR AL 159 700 620 91 176 36 9 11 58 68 3 67 1 6 5 8 .284 .353 .424 .777 *8 4 Jack Perconte 31 2 1985 30 SEA AL 125 542 485 60 128 17 7 2 23 50 0 36 3 2 2 9 .264 .335 .340 .675 *4 5 Ichiro Suzuki 30 2 2007 33 SEA AL 109 497 455 77 156 16 5 5 45 37 8 46 2 2 1 5 .343 .394 .433 .827 *8/D 6 Alfonso Soriano 30 2 2005 29 TEX AL 156 682 637 102 171 43 2 36 104 33 3 125 7 0 5 6 .268 .309 .512 .821 *4/D
Now you're really cooking. 45 steals with only 2 CS is a huge offensive boon It's like turning 40+ of your singles into doubles. And note that Ichiro makes the list (at least at the moment) for 2007 too.
Honorable mentions to Carlos Beltran and Dave Roberts, who in 2004 stole 42 and 38 bases, respectively, each getting caught only 3 times. Of course, as Red Sox and Yankees fans can both tell you, Roberts' most important stolen base in 2004 happened in the post-season.
August 7th, 2007 at 8:01 am
Curtis Granderson is currently 14/14 in SB. He also has 0 GIDP. From an efficiency standpoint, he's arguably 'on pace' to "give away" the least number of outs for an everyday player since GIDP and CS became official stats.
What's the record for consecutive PAs without a GIDP to start a season?
August 7th, 2007 at 8:31 am
truman - funny you should mention Granderson. Though not a Tampa Bay or Detroit fan, I listened to the game via MLB radio last night, and the Tigers announcers spoke in detail about Granderson and his SB%, which is what prompted me to look up the stats for this post.
I am going to answer your question about GIDP in a fresh post. The answer surprised the hell out of me.
August 7th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
It needs to be noted that Barry Bonds has a current streak of 8 consecutive successful steals. Before that CS nine attempts ago, Bonds has a streak of 17 successes in a row.
Over the last five seasons he is 21/22, six seasons: 30/33, seven seasons: 43/49, eight seasons: 54/63, nine seasons: 69/80.
That amazes me.
August 7th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
A single plus a successful stolen base is not really quite equal to a double, as a double (on average)moves along other base runners in a way that a single plus SB (on average) does not. But 45 out of 47 SBs is still a quite significant added value.
August 7th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
That's a good point, about S+SB not equaling a 2B. Thanks.
And regarding Bonds' SB prowess, he has always been an excellent baserunner. Don't forget that he has stolen 30 bases in a season 9 different times, and as many as 52 one time. He's slower now, but still skillful.
September 2nd, 2007 at 12:03 am
I noticed that Oscar Azocar stole ten bases in his career without ever getting caught. Just wondering if thats any kind of record?
Jack
September 21st, 2007 at 10:58 am
Any chance of working out the best/worst historical team throwout rate? I know the 2007 Padres are doing poorly, however I'm unable to figure out a way to calculate just *how* poor. Is there a way to calculate this using BR?